Natural History Wanderings

ScienceDaily reported on research that indicated migrating in Whooping Cranes was definitely a learned behavior.

Migrating groups that included a seven-year-old crane were found to go off course 38% less than groups that did not follow older cranes when migrating from Wisconsin breeding grounds to Florida wintering grounds. It was found that

One-year-old birds that did not follow older birds veered, on average, 60 miles (97 kilometers) from a straight flight path. When the one-year-old cranes traveled with older birds, the average deviation was less than 40 miles (64 kilometers).

Individual whoopers’ ability to stick to the route increased steadily each year up to about age 5, and remained roughly constant from that point on, the researchers found.

Read more at ScienceDaily Learning how to migrate: Young whoopers stay the course when they follow a wise old bird.